Representatives from various human rights groups on Wednesday briefed U.N. Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggaya on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the challenges they faced in discharging their duty.
Among those who met the Special Rapporteur, who is on a two-day visit to the State, at a hotel in Srinagar were representatives of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, the Kashmir Bar Association and journalists.
The visit by the top United Nations official comes after the 2010 summer unrest in the Kashmir Valley, which led to killing of 112 persons allegedly in firing by police and security forces.
“I am here to meet the human rights defenders. “I will have consultations with the human rights defenders and other people to know the challenges they face,” she said, adding she would present a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Earlier, during her brief stay in the winter capital here, both Chief Secretary S.S. Kapur and Director-General of Police Kuldeep Khoda told her how the government dealt with the summer unrest, informed sources said. They also highlighted the situation which arose in the backdrop of Pakistan-based militancy and the challenges being faced by security forces.
Varied experience
Ms. Sekaggaya is a magistrate from Uganda and was Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission from 1996 to 2008.
She is also a member of the United Nations High Level Task Force on the Implementation of the Right to Development. She has participated in drawing up a Bill of Rights for the East African Community. She has experience in the human rights situation concerning people afflicted with HIV/AIDS, the disabled, children, women and the elderly.
“Symbolic visit”
Referring to her visit, human rights lawyer Pervez Imroz, however, said it “is a symbolic one.”
He said the State neutralised issue of human rights by attacking the defenders. He alleged that the State had denied passports to over 68,000 families, including human rights defenders, in the Valley so that they could not travel outside to present their view of the situation.
